Route: Pakalnė – Skudutiškis – Kulionys – Papiliakalnė – Ginučiai – Stripeikiai – Šeimatis
In ancient times, happiness for Balts meant wealth, prosperity and goddess Laima (Happiness). Goddess Austėja was responsible for love and family. Balts also asked for wisdom from mythical beings. The route will bring travellers and seekers of happiness through the imaginative, sensory and inspiring path through the historic Nalšia Duchy. Goddess Laima wishes happiness as she approaches newborns in a crib and the fate unfolds as she sings like a cuckoo. The story of Laima is told in the Valley of Laime in Narkūnai, in Skudutiškis Sacred Place, at the Valiulis Stone, and is revealed by visiting the Collection of the Holy Stones at the Observatory in Kulionys. Ancient Balts believed that every person had his own star, he could be either happy or unhappy in life... No less important is the life thread twisted by gods of faith, which is attributed to the Sun’s position in the sky or the Moon’s phase on the birthday – listen to the stories as told by the ancient Balts’ zodiac researcher Jonas Vaiškūnas at the Observatory of the Ancient Celestial Bodies and the educational program "Lithuanian Sky Stars" at the Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology will help to gain more knowledge about ethnoastronomy.
At the top of Pakalniai Hillfort, at the grave of freedom ghters, travellers can have a moment to think about those for whom the happiness of the Lithuanian nation was a greater and more expensive value than their personal happiness. Feel the overwhelming happiness when climbing Ladakalnis or the nearby Ginučiai Hillfort. At the Beekeeping Museum, it’s all about love. Austėja – the mother of bees, the goddess of love, caring for harmonious human relations and protecting family values; a unique Lithuanian cultural phenomenon in beekeeping – kinship and friendship through bees. Wisdom was another value to ask for and obtain from gods. Ask your questions about life and let them be answered by the Stone Mokas near Šeimatis.
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